Table Of ContentPOPULAR MUSICAL THEATRE IN
LONDON AND BERLIN
InthedecadesbeforetheSecondWorldWar,popularmusicaltheatre
wasoneofthemostinfluentialformsofentertainment.Thisisthefirst
book to reconstruct early popular musical theatre as a transnational
and highly cosmopolitan industry that included everything from
revues and operettas to dance halls and cabaret. Bringing together
contributorsfromBritainandGermany,thiscollectionmovesbeyond
nationaltheatrehistoriestostudyAnglo-Germanrelationsataperiod
of intense hostility and rivalry. Chapters frame the entertainment
zonesofLondonandBerlinagainstthewidertradingroutesofcultural
transfer, where empire and transatlantic song and dance produced,
perhapsforthefirsttime,agenuinelyinternationalculture.Exploring
adaptationsandtranslationsofworksundertheinfluenceofpolitical
propaganda,thiscollectionwillbeofinterestbothtomusicaltheatre
enthusiastsandtothoseinterestedinthewiderhistoryofmodernism.
len platt isProfessorofModernLiteratureatGoldsmithsCollege,
University of London. His research interests are modern literature,
JamesJoyceandpopularmusicaltheatre,andhispublicationsinclude
JamesJoyce:TextsandContexts(2011),ModernismandRace(ed.2011),
Joyce,Raceand‘FinnegansWake’(2006),MusicalComedyontheWest
EndStage,1890–1939(2004)andAristocraciesofFiction(2001).
tobias becker is a lecturer at the Freie Universität Berlin. His
researchfocusesuponthehistoryofpopularcultureandurbanhistory
inEuropeinthenineteenthandtwentiethcenturiesandhispublica-
tions include Inszenierte Moderne: Populäres Theater in Berlin und
London 1880–1930 (2014) and Die Stadt der tausend Freuden:
Vergnu¨gungskultur um 1900 (ed. with Anna Littmann and Johanna
Niedbalski,2011).
david linton is a theatre practitioner and an associate lecturer at
Goldsmiths College, University of London. His research interests
include multidisciplinary participatory arts practice, popular musical
theatre, black performance and the formation and representation of
nationalandculturalidentities.
POPULAR MUSICAL
THEATRE IN LONDON
AND BERLIN
1890–1939
edited by
LEN PLATT, TOBIAS BECKER
AND DAVID LINTON
UniversityPrintingHouse,Cambridgecb28bs,UnitedKingdom
CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
Itfurtherstheuniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
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www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107051003
©CambridgeUniversityPress2014
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2014
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyTJInternationalLtd.Padstow,Cornwall
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
PopularmusicaltheatreinLondonandBerlin,1890to1939/[editedby]LenPlatt,
TobiasBeckerandDavidLinton.
pages cm
isbn978-1-107-05100-3(hardback)
1. Musicaltheater–England–London–History–20thcentury. 2. Musicaltheater–
England–London–History–19thcentury. 3. Musicaltheater–Germany–Berlin–
History–20thcentury. 4. Musicaltheater–Germany–Berlin–History–19th
century. 5. London(England)–Sociallifeandcustoms–20thcentury. 6. London
(England)–Sociallifeandcustoms–19thcentury. 7. Berlin(Germany)–Sociallife
andcustoms–20thcentury. 8. Berlin(Germany)–Sociallifeandcustoms–19th
century. I. Platt,Len,editor. II. Becker,Tobias,editor. III. Linton,David,1967–
ml1731.8.l7p67 2014
792.609421009041–dc23
2014010868
isbn978-1-107-05100-3Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
urlsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
Contents
Listoffigures pagevii
Listofcontributors viii
Acknowledgements xii
Noteonthetext xiv
Introduction 1
LenPlatt,TobiasBeckerandDavidLinton
parti: the mechanics of transfer and translation 23
1 Berlin/London:London/Berlin–anoutlineofcultural
transfer1890–1914 25
LenPlatt
2 Localcontextsandgenreconstructioninearlycontinental
musicaltheatre 44
MarionLinhardt
3 GermanoperettaintheWestEndandonBroadway 62
DerekB.Scott
4 TheArcadiansandFilmzauber–adaptationandthepopular
musicaltheatretext 81
TobiasBecker
5 HowasweetViennesegirlbecameafairinternationallady:
transfer,performance,modernity–actsinthemakingofa
cosmopolitanculture 102
StefanFrey
6 ‘Ahappymancanliveinthepast’–musicaltheatretransferin
the1920sand1930s 118
LenPlattandTobiasBecker
v
vi Contents
partii: atlantic traffic 133
7 ‘Hullo,Ragtime!’ WestEndrevueandtheAmericanisation
ofpopularcultureinpre-1914London 135
PeterBailey
8 TheArgentinetango:atransatlanticdanceontheEuropean
stage 153
KerstinLange
9 DoverStreettoDixieandthepoliticsofculturaltransfer
andexchange 170
DavidLintonandLenPlatt
10 Thetransculturalityofstage,songandothermedia:
intermedialityinpopularmusicaltheatre 187
CarolinStahrenbergandNilsGrosch
partiii: representation in transition – cultural
transfer/stage others 201
11 TheSandowGirlandhersisters:Edwardianmusicalcomedy,
culturaltransferandthestagingofthehealthyfemalebody 203
VivGardner
12 WestEndmusicaltheatreandtherepresentationofGermany 224
LenPlatt
13 TheTropicalExpressinNaziGermany 242
SusannLewerenz
14 OperettaandpropagandaintheThirdReich:culturalpolitics
andtheMetropol-Theater 258
MatthiasKauffmann
Selectbibliography 274
Indexofnames 277
Indexofplays 282
Figures
Theauthorandpublishersacknowledgethefollowingsourcesofcopyright
materialandaregratefulforthepermissionsgranted.Whileeveryefforthasbeen
made,ithasnotalwaysbeenpossibletoidentifythesourcesofallmaterialused,
ortotraceallcopyrightholders.Ifanyomissionsarebroughttoournotice,we
willbehappytoincludetheappropriateacknowledgementsonreprinting.
1.1 TheBerlinproductionofDieGeisha(1897). page31
4.1 LondonproductionofTheArcadians(withinset)/Berlin
productionofTheArcadians. 90
4.2 OscarSaboasAdalbertMusenfettandLisaWeiseasFränze
PapendieckinFilmzauberattheBerlinerTheaterin1912.
GeorgeGrossmithJrasMaxDalyandEmmyWehlenas
WinifredintheLondonadaptationTheGirlontheFilm,
whichpremieredin1913attheGaietyTheatre. 92
5.1 LilyElsieandBertramWallisdancingthe‘staircase-waltz’
fromTheCountofLuxembourg,‘thehighlightoftheshow’. 106
5.2 TheDollarPrincess,Daly’sTheatre(1909). 111
9.1 FlorenceMillsandthe‘DuskyVamps’withWillVodreyand
hisOrchestra.DoverStreettoDixie(1923). 177
10.1 PromotionforaComedianHarmonistsconcertthattook
placeon16February1932inthePotsdamConcertHall. 194
10.2 AdvertisementforODEON,c.December1928/January1929. 195
11.1 TheGymnasiumscene,TheDairymaids(1906). 209
11.2 CarrieMooreastheSandowGirl. 212
11.3 MaudeOdell. 213
11.4 TheSandowGirls. 216
11.5 TheSandowGirls.HultonArchive/Stringer/GettyImages. 217
12.1 StereotypesofGermany:TheGirlsofGottenberg(1907). 230
12.2 No-ShirtsonparadeinSwingAlong(1929). 237
vii
Contributors
peter bailey is Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba,
Canada. He is a leading social and cultural historian of modern Britain
withresearchinterestsinleisure,popularcultureandsexuality;Victorian
music hall; the twentieth-century variety stage and jazz in Britain. His
publications include Popular Culture and Performance in the Victorian
City (1998), Music Hall: The Business of Pleasure (1986) and Leisure and
ClassinVictorianEngland:RationalRecreationandtheContestforControl,
1830–1885(1978).
tobias becker isalecturerattheFreieUniversitätBerlinandresearcher
in the DFG/AHRC-Project ‘West End and Friedrichstraße. Popular
Musical Theatre in London and Berlin 1890 to 1939’. Research interests
includeEuropeanhistoryinthenineteenthandtwentiethcenturies,the
history of popular culture and urban history. His publications include
Die Stadt der tausend Freuden: Vergnu¨gungskultur um 1900 (edited with
Anna Littmann and Johanna Niedbalski, 2011). His book on popular
theatre, Inszenierte Moderne: Populäres Theater in Berlin und London
1880–1930,willbepublishedinsummer2014.
stefan frey is a writer, broadcaster, lecturer, dramaturge and director.
He was assistant director at the Deutschen Schauspielhaus Hamburg,
Landestheater Tübingen and Thüringer Landestheater Rudolstadt,
where he directed several productions including Lehár’s Paganini.
Founder and artistic director of the ‘Theater in der Tenne’,
Maierhöfen, he was also head of the Studio Theatre of the Institute for
TheatreStudiesatMunichUniversity2004–6.Since2006,Freyhasbeen
a lecturer at the Institute and at the Theater-Akademie ‘August
Everding’. He has written radio features, an operetta and two books on
Lehár: Franz Lehár oder das schlechte Gewissen der leichten Musik (1995)
and ‘Was sagt ihr zu diesem Erfolg’ – Franz Lehár und die
Unterhaltungsmusik des 20. Jahrhunderts (1999). He has also written
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